Celebrity drinks prices

[Janet19]

Are these also available? Are they less expensive?

 

Thanks~

[Janet19]

Are these available, and, are they less expensive?

[Char]

Are these available, and, are they less expensive?

The menu sasys that the regular "frosty" (meaning frozen) drinks are $5.50 and the virgin version is $4.25. Non-alcoholic Daily Specials are $3.75.

[carolmacey]

Yep, there is a 15% gratuity--and keep in mind, that's where the pay comes from for the bartender. Bad (small) crowd, not much pay. Talking to the bartenders on the Century--they do much better on a Caribbean cruise than on a European. The bartenders are also rotated around, so your favorite at the Martini bar this trip will likely be somewhere else next trip.QUOTE

 

We were on a back2back on a Norwegian ship. The average age of the first trip was 45, the second trip average age was 68. The bartenders were hurting big time. No one was drinking and I felt sorry for the guys behind the bars. They sat there watching people go by. You could almost see their pay checks shrinking from lack of tips. I try to spread my bar bill around the ship so everyone shares in the tips.

Carol

[cruzluvers]

It is from September of last year--2004. If you look at the bottom right hand corner of page 4, right under the listing for the Port wine you will see "C class-9/04"

 

Hi Char,

 

Thanks very much. Today we received a response to our letter to Celebrity asking for a copy of the current wine list for the dining room of the M.S. Century. Their emailed response was "Please visit celebrityvineyards.com for the different wines that are available in the dining room." That website promotes three, and only three, generic "private label" wines (no vintage or other info given and for all we know could be from the same winery that produces "two-buck Chuck") and is largely directed at travel agents who wish to give their customers an on-board gift and, at $ 25 a bottle, is probably a huge profit center. In short, totally useless. There is no other information on that page, or any other page on Celebrity's web site, regarding their wine offerings.

 

For that reason we are especially grateful to you. A review of the 12 page list reveals that, like most cruise lines, Celebrity somewhat overcharges (at 2.5 to 3+ times retail) for their wine offerings (especially when you consider that they are not subject to the sales and excise taxes traditionally imposed on alcoholic beverages by the US and State governments and that their dining room staff are paid next to nothing) but not as egregiously as some of their competitors - Princess is the worst that we've seen. As just one example, there is a low-priced wine they serve at six times what you would pay for the same product in Costco. In all fairness, the Celebrity offerings, in terms of breath, exceed most cruise ship lists we have seen. Despite that however, we saw only a few which tweaked our interests AND were, in our judgement, fairly priced. Accordingly, we will be bringing eight or so bottles from our own collection for our ten-night cruise, and will happily pay the corkage charges.

 

Again, thanks very much for sharing:) .

 

John & Rhona

[JDSTURTZ]

Don't count on it. I hadn't finished mine before going in to dinner and they wouldn' let me take it in their fancy glass. The waiter poured it into a plain water glass. At that price I wasn't going to leave a drop of it.--teajak

 

Last year on the Constellation, we were not allowed to carry ours into the dining room. That was only because Sudi carried it for us, in the original glass.

 

Don

[RodPat]

Just got off Constellation today and the martinis now cost $9.50 plus a automatic 15% tip at the martini bar. The prices have gone up every year for the last 4 years. We spent $1400. on extras on this cruise so it is not like we don't spend money, but to me this means I will take my goose on the rocks. Grey Goose on the Rocks costs only $6.75 and to tell the truth I prefer it that way. Pat

[Lsimon]

...like most cruise lines, Celebrity somewhat overcharges (at 2.5 to 3+ times retail) for their wine offerings...

 

...In all fairness, the Celebrity offerings, in terms of breath, exceed most cruise ship lists we have seen...

 

Of course they are way above retail. In my life I've never ever gone to a restuarant or resort that charged retail for wine - so why would one expect this on a cruise ship? I think the prices are very reasonable in comparison to restuarant prices for wines, perhaps a tiny bit on the low side. If you scour the list there are actually a couple of bargins that you might luck out on. For example we enjoy champagne and sparkling wines (i.e. champagne not made in "champagne") and there are a couple of bottles made by Domaine Carneros, Tattinger's Napa operation, which are pretty good and for some reason the prices are actually close to retail. If like champagne then give the Le Reve a try - its great.

 

On prior cruises we've brought a lot of wine with us as we've usually don't see wines we like on the wine list. But on our past Summit cruises we've found quite a few of our favorites on the Celebrity list - so we're in agreement that the wine list exceeds most other lines. We've also "discovered" Celebrity's wonderful martini bar and now drink less wine on board that in the past, so we don't bring much wine with us. But if you drink a lot of wine and have some favorites, I think bringing wine with you is a great idea. On request your room steward will keep your room stocked with wine glasses and willempty the mini-bar from your fridge so you can keep your whites cooled. He'll also take your wines to the dining room for you (preferably early in the day) so the wine steward will have them ready (and cooled property if they need it) when you arrive for dinner. I would recommend you bring your own cork screw for in-room use as these are sometimes hard for the steward to locate for you for some reason.

[heid5]

Can anyone tell me if Century offers a "Bucket" special on beer. i.e. Buy 4 (or 5)get one free??

[teajak]

Can anyone tell me if Century offers a "Bucket" special on beer. i.e. Buy 4 (or 5)get one free??

My DH is eagerly awaiting a response to your question.

[wyeanni]

Can you carry a glass of wine in to the dining room on Celebrity?

[Char]

Can anyone tell me if Century offers a "Bucket" special on beer. i.e. Buy 4 (or 5)get one free??

I have not seen this offered on any Celebrity ship...

[heid5]

On Galaxy 2 years ago, we traveled during Super Bowl week. Celebrity offered a buy 5 get 1 free helmet bucket. I do'nt know if that is a regular thing or a special that they ran because of Super Bowl>

[SeeZee]

My information is 2 years old from the Century. If they are still selling the small martini shaker for an extra $5, get it. It is the best shaker I own. The lid is easy to take on and off and it pours beautifully. Holds two martinis. I am planning on buying another one when we take the Horizon to Bermuda (from Philly) on Oct 15. I hope they still sell the shakers.

[Beachcombers]

RODPAT, great tip re the martini bar -- thank you. We've been on the Brilliance the last 2 years and going again this Feb. and I know our martinis were $9.50 plus 15% last year, so probably higher this Feb. I'll just sneak an olive from the restaurant and pop it into my Grey Goose or Blue Saphire, and save some $. That way maybe I can have twoooooooo!!! BTW my hubby and I are travelling on the Constellation (lst time) Feb. 07 in one of the "to die for" aft balconies that are going to be CC class.

 

Loie

[cruzluvers]

Of course they are way above retail. In my life I've never ever gone to a restuarant or resort that charged retail for wine - so why would one expect this on a cruise ship?{QUOTE}I think the prices are very reasonable in comparison to restuarant prices for wines, perhaps a tiny bit on the low side. If you scour the list there are actually a couple of bargins that you might luck out on. For example we enjoy champagne and sparkling wines (i.e. champagne not made in "champagne") and there are a couple of bottles made by Domaine Carneros, Tattinger's Napa operation, which are pretty good and for some reason the prices are actually close to retail. If like champagne then give the Le Reve a try - its great.

 

On prior cruises we've brought a lot of wine with us as we've usually don't see wines we like on the wine list. But on our past Summit cruises we've found quite a few of our favorites on the Celebrity list - so we're in agreement that the wine list exceeds most other lines. We've also "discovered" Celebrity's wonderful martini bar and now drink less wine on board that in the past, so we don't bring much wine with us. But if you drink a lot of wine and have some favorites, I think bringing wine with you is a great idea. On request your room steward will keep your room stocked with wine glasses and willempty the mini-bar from your fridge so you can keep your whites cooled. He'll also take your wines to the dining room for you (preferably early in the day) so the wine steward will have them ready (and cooled property if they need it) when you arrive for dinner. I would recommend you bring your own cork screw for in-room use as these are sometimes hard for the steward to locate for you for some reason

[Char]

Interesting about the martini prices being $9.50 now. In June, on the Infinity they were still $8.95. I'll check it out in 2 weeks :D

[RodPat]

Beachcombers, when you order your vodka of choice on the rocks just ask for an olive or two put in your drink. I always order Grey Goose on the rocks with a twist. Never a problem. As for the price of wine, I think Celebrity has priced them right. Almost twice the retail is the norm and that is what they charge. We just bought a bottle of Chappellet 2002 Napa Valley Cabernet for $39 a bottle. We had this wine in Oceanliners for $71. a bottle. This is a very fare price in any restaurant. By the way it is a very nice bottle of wine. Pat

[cruzluvers]

Of course they are way above retail. In my life I've never ever gone to a restuarant or resort that charged retail for wine - so why would one expect this on a cruise ship? .

 

Of course we don't think we would pay store prices for wine served in a white tablecloth dining room, whether it is on land or on the high seas. It is clear that the key word in our comments, "somewhat" (as in "somewhat overpriced" and being synonymous with "moderately") escaped your attention. Had we thought store prices were the norm, than X's prices would be "outrageously" overpriced, not "somewhat". Please allow us to elaborate.

 

The average wine served in a fine dining room is fairly priced when it is listed at 2 to 3 times the amount paid by the establishment. When one factors in that the wholesale price is 75% of what you or I would pay in a retail store, this works out to a retail-to-winelist price ratio of about 1.5 to 2.25. Anything above that is overpriced. These statistics are not of our creation. Rather, they represent the expert consensus of the editors of Wine Spectator. Their observations have been seconded by other wine writers and confirmed by our personal experiences. Interestingly enough, the better the restaurant, the more likely the aforesaid standard is likely to be adheared to.

 

The year-old Celebrity list we're discussing is clearly, for the most part, overpriced vis a vis current retail store prices when you apply the above standard. We checked all the basic cabernet sauvignons, skipping Bins # 005 and 137 for which prices are not available, and found the five of the seven (71.4%) fall outside the range generally acknowledged to be within the parameters of fair pricing. A quick review of the other still wine categories (we're not into bubblies that much), especially in the under $ 50 range (the bulk of the offerings - hats off to X for that!!) suggests that one would get the same result from any section of the still wine list. Incidentally, our prices came from winelibrary.com and totalwineandmore.com

 

The bottom line is that unless you know your prices fairly well, you're not likely to get good value. In our judgement, that's not the way it should be and having a few bargains (e.g. the '97 La Reve and Bin # 82) among a list of more than 100 wines does not compensate for more than 2/3's of the selections being overpriced. While it's not an issue if A. you're willing and able to BYOBs and B. the corkage charge is reasonable, which on X, it is, we're sure many passengers who regard wine as an essential with dinner, when embarking on a 14 night voyage, do not relish the idea of flying with a case, or even half a case, of their favorite vintages or are even able to do so given air travel limitations.

 

We appreciate your suggestions re: use of the mini-bar refrigerator (great idea) and the blanc de blanc (great vintage). Almost all of our wine is taken with meals, but on our November cruise, maybe we'll enjoy an aperitif in our stateroom with some canapes and the company of some Cruise Critic friends.

 

Regards,:)

 

Rhona & John

[Lsimon]

Rhona & John - I guess we're both entitled to our own opinions. In any event we were on the Summit last week and had a great time - despite the hurricane. Enjoyed the wines. Still think most seemed reasonable in relation to restuarant prices in Chicago - but I realize prices can vary quite a bit accross the country both in terms of both retail prices and restaurant prices. If you like Chardonnay try the Nickel & Nickel on the Normandy wine list - probably available elsewhere on board too. A bit pricy but just fantastic.

 

Unfortunately I can't say the same about a very expensive bottle of wine we took aboard for a special night. We'd had this brand, but not the exact vintage & locality. We purchased this specially for the cruise and it was terrible! What a dissapointment. Possibly bad storage before or after our purchase, and it was the only bottle we brought with us. Oh well. I guess that another disadvantage of bringing your own wine is that you can't tell the sommelier to take it back!

 

Happy sailing!